


ignorance is bliss

by peachesnclem



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gay without meaning to gay, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, confusion about sexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2019-08-19 03:28:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16526462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachesnclem/pseuds/peachesnclem
Summary: "Hey Clem?" Sarah spoke suddenly, startling Clementine, who was reading one of Sarah's books, "Can you pinkie promise me something?" She asked, sitting up. Clementine thought that was a little silly, pinkie promises were usually done by two year old's. Plus, promises weren't her thing since they were always going to be broken. She observed the girl's face, her eyes slightly red and puffy and tears were at the edge of her eyes and she caved. "Sure.""Promise you won't ever stop being my friend," she muttered, holding out her pinkie and watching Clementine like a hawk. Clementine just sat there, before leaning forward, slightly pressing her hand on the book to balance herself and wrapping her own pinkie around Sarah's."I pinkie promise."





	1. Distrust

Clementine's brown eyes stared up at the sun, her hand covering her face as it blazed down at her, seeing it was going to set soon. It was kind of cold and she was on her own still. After Christa had disappeared randomly and Omid died, she had to resort back to being alone. It wasn't so bad, she thought as her feet crunched under the grass. Soon, winter will be here and she needs shelter soon. The once lush green trees are now turning into a sunset orange. It was pretty, she'll admit, but it wasn't her main concern. Her main concern's always survival.

She passed a river, sitting down and placing her pistol next to herself. She had been travelling a lot and she deserved to rest. Cupping her hands and dipping them into the stream, she didn't bother to filter the water and she sipped it, the cold liquid running down her throat and some on her face. She cleaned her hands afterwards of any dirt on them and slowly got up before she heard two voices, male ones and quickly ducked back down. Her hand instinctively wrapped around her pistol, her index finger automatically going onto the trigger. She observed the area, following the sound of the arguing masculine voices, (one arguably "masculine.") and found the source. There, stood a bald man and another man with black hair and sporting a brown cap. 

The young teen listened closely, picking up their names. The bald one was Pete, or how the other man had put it, "Uncle Pete." Anyhow, the other was Nick. She couldn't care more or less of him, seeing how he was unarmed, but Pete had a shotgun. She stayed relatively quiet, until her arm shifted and knocked her water bottle into the stream. As she tried to grab it as  _quietly_  as she could, she still made a lot of noise as the water splashed under and around her frantic hands. Both of their eyes spotted her and Pete trained her shotgun on her and after she retrieved her water bottle, she shot her hands up in the air.

"Off the ground," Pete ordered and she slowly got up, leaving her pistol abandoned on the ground and trying to kick it behind some rocks without being suspicious. Her eyes trained on the two with no emotion, though her heart was pounding in her chest. She'll never get use to the feeling of having someone's  **gun** on her. Though, she refused to crack. She stood there as she waited for his next move, his next word...

"Any weapons?" He said and her heart almost leaped out of her chest, and she stared at him blankly for a few seconds, internally deciding as he waited patiently, however Nick wasn't so patient, about to open his mouth when she spoke. "Yes, a pistol." She said, not mentioning the knife in her boot. A few months ago, she learned this neat thing she could do and made a holster type of thing for her leg and hid it in her boot. Back to the present now, Pete nodded thoughtfully and turned to Nick. She heard them discussing and she heard a shout, "You can't just let her  _go!_   What if she's with  **him?** Becca-"

She tuned them out, thinking of her next move. It seems the path they're taking would just lead to them interrogating her and probably letting her go. Which, she's completely fine with because she'll never see them again. The other would be them either killing her or just letting her walk off, the last being VERY unlikely. Mentally sighing, she waited until her aggressors decided. To waste time, she observed her surroundings more closely, noticing the life that lived within the stream. Fish swam peacefully in the water, oblivious to all of the chaos and destruction happening outside of it. Flowers lay on the river's edge, ignored to the world, once often gazed upon and plucked from the ground now forgotten. Frogs hopping peacefully across the ground merrily, as if nothing bothered them. She would give anything to be like the fish or the flowers, even the frogs, because ignorance is bliss. Not paying attention to anything, being able to live peacefully and ignore the constant despair around you... She'd love to experience that again. She-

"Hello?" She was ripped out of her thoughts at she heard Nick's impatient voice and the snapping of his fingers. Once he saw he got her attention, he cleared his throat, "You're coming with us. So, step away from your weapon so we can come and retrieve it. And don't fucking do anything," he snapped, as if he was trying to intimidate Clem. Though, it didn't work and she just remained stone-faced, her voice not faltering in any way as she pointed to the pistol that lay doormat behind the rocks, "there."

He walked over to retrieve her gun and then grabbed her wrists and held them behind her back and she snarled at him, he didn't need to be so rough with her. To his knowledge, he already had her weapon. Pete gave her a sympathetic glance, as if it was saying _'I'm sorry for his shitty behavior.'_ She understood, he seemed like a genuinely nice man that hadn't been corrupted by this world. She would have rather preferred him instead of Nick.

However, beggars can't be choosers and she slowly shuffled along to wherever he was dragging her.

* * *

 

After some hours of relentless interrogation and (mostly) truthful answers, they had let her go wander the house with a girl. She had learned her name was Sarah, a teen just a few years older than her, though she acted younger than her age. They were still deciding on what to do with her, and if to take her "testimony" as the truth. Clementine needed to be searching for a place, not being wrapped in some drama not involving her. But here she was, being dragged by the wrist as the overly ecstatic older teen showed Clementine her room, babbling about how exciting it was to meet another teen like her, etc etc... 

Clementine wasn't a complete asshole, however, and gave her the time of day. She grinned as she pulled out a Polaroid camera out from under her bed, showing it to Clementine, "I found this under the house! My dad's not supposed to know though, can you keep a secret? Pretty please?" She begged and Clementine nodded, "Sure." Sarah squealed before fumbling with the settings and such as Clementine watched her, her eyes softening at the girl. This girl seemed oblivious, to the world, just like the flowers at the river. The younger teen could tell that she used to be a star student with how excited she was, probably something in art. The "world," or her school, probably gazed upon her and her art, as if it was magnificent beauty. But now, nobody even gives art a second thought. Nobody decorates anything to make it feel "homey" or anything similar, because why settle in a place that you're going to leave? 

Though, that wasn't Sarah's case. Her room was decorated and paper laid everywhere, on her desk, on her floor, on her bed... Her room was a normal teenager's room, minus the blasting trash pop on the radio. But it made Clementine feel... welcomed, as if she wasn't just some stranger that everyone didn't trust. No, she felt as if she could trust Sarah and Sarah could do the same. Sarah reminded her of a small dog, a loyal one that would never betray you, a beautiful one that would be constantly showered in appraisal and treats. One that was overly excitable to new people, oblivious to the pain and hurt they could possibly inflict on her small frame. Maybe she knew, or she never bothered to care, who knows?

But Clementine knows, or she thinks she knows... She has this gut feeling that Sarah's someone that's dependable, but she's not stupid. She's learned to not act on impulse and gut feeling, but it's just a minor thought. She was brought back to reality as the girl felt an arm wrapping around her shoulder and before she knew it there was a snap and the camera had caught her surprised face. Sarah grinned, pulling away and waiting for the photo to come out and then grabbed it, shaking it. Clementine subconsciously rubbed the area where Sarah's hand laid, she hadn't had any sort of physical contact in a while. So that really surprised her, because now she's missing the other girl's body heat, heating up her own small and underdeveloped body. Clementine shook her head and looked over Sarah's shoulder, "How'd it turn out?"

Sarah turned around and held up the photo to her, and Clementine held felt like burying her face in her hat. She had an utterly shocked face, arms raised high as Sarah sported a toothy grin at the camera. as Clementine looked utterly stupid. "It looks great!" Sarah commented, going over to her desk and opening a scrapbook, placing the photo in an empty protector. She trailed her slender fingers over the photo, "You're really photogenic, you know?" She said mindlessly and Clementine had to stop herself from choking.

Was she serious? She looked like a complete dork in that photo, one that had clearly never been in photos before. She was FAR from photogenic. Instead of shouting her concerns, she simply just smiled sheepishly, "Thanks... I never thought of myself that way." Sarah turned around and headed towards her bed, sitting on it comfortably, cross-legged and patted the space in front of her. Clementine hesitantly made her way over to her and sat down, and out came the flow of Sarah's chatter.

She talked on and on about how great her day has been, and how it's so much better than her normally bleak and boring life. Clementine couldn't tune out like she normally would, though. She kept listening to the girl ramble on and on, and even when it got far from the first topic and went onto their interests, she engaged normally. They chattered about their interests, the things they liked and the things they would like to try. Clementine didn't mind letting herself relax a little, letting herself act her age for once. She felt herself let go, all the tension flooding out of her body as she shared things with the girl.

After it was starting to get dark, they had quieted down. "Hey Clem?" Sarah spoke suddenly, startling Clementine, who was reading one of Sarah's books, "Can you pinkie promise me something?" She asked, sitting up. Clementine thought that was a little silly, pinkie promises were usually done by two year old's. Plus, promises weren't her thing since they were always going to be broken. She observed the girl's face, her eyes slightly red and puffy and tears were at the edge of her eyes and she caved. "Sure."

"Promise you won't ever stop being my friend," she muttered, holding out her pinkie and watching Clementine like a hawk. Clementine just sat there, before leaning forward, slightly pressing her hand on the book to balance herself and wrapping her own pinkie around Sarah's.

"I pinkie promise."


	2. Wisdom

Burning. There's a burning sensation in Clementine's lungs as she runs around the woods. The more she runs, the farther away the house seems to be. But she's determined to make it, even as the walkers pile around her, dead hands trying to grab her flesh as she pushes them away. Her boots make it to the front porch and she practically slams her feet across it as she bounds up the steps, grabbing onto the handle of the door. It's locked. Of course, it's locked at the _worst moment_. She steps back and then slams roughly against the door, repeating the action over and over again.

It won't budge. It refuses, despite Clementine pounding on it because she might die for once. It's a distant thought always because she knows she's too smart for it, but this one's out of her control. The walkers are right behind her and she can feel them grabbing onto her as she kicks and screams and her heart is beating so fast out of chest-

"Sarah!"

 

* * *

 

 

Sarah's name comes out of Clementine's mouth as she shoots up out of bed, sweat beading down her face and her eyes adjust to the dark room. This isn't her room, she finally realizes. A low groan happens from beside her as hands cling to her torso and she jumps a bit, her eyes darting to the source. It's just Sarah. Her eyes are shut and she looks peaceful, hair falling all over her face and behind her. Clementine feels at peace, realizing she's okay.

Sarah had asked her to stay over in her room- _"I don't want you getting sick from sleeping in the shed!"_ \- and it had become routine. The older girl's stubbornness is funny yet admirable because she refused to let Clementine sleep on the floor, exclaiming that she wasn't going to treat her like an outsider or a monster like everyone else was. It's odd, Clementine hadn't thought of staying so long. She's been here for around half a month now yet the thought of leaving has left her mind. Sarah seems happy to have someone around that isn't so out of touch like everyone else, someone who's around her age and 'gets her.' Clementine doesn't fit in with anyone else but with Sarah, the two can chatter about anything, Sarah often leading the conversation but bringing Clementine out of her shell.

Clementine hadn't realized she was so out of touch with things, often confused by some things Sarah talked about. The girl had it so easy compared to Clementine's rough life so far. It's a bit saddening, knowing Sarah wouldn't know how to protect herself if push came to shove. Everything falls apart, she knows this far too well. You can't try to shelter someone in a world like this, you can't attempt to have a Utopia and ignore everything else.

She'll teach her. Clementine will secretly teach her everything she needs to know. She can't keep leaning on her dad for everything and Clementine wasn't going to teach her to lean on her either.

Yawn. She'll think more on it later. Her breathing's calmed down enough and her heart's returned to beating normally. Leaning back and rolling over so she's facing Sarah, she mutters a quiet "goodnight" and closes her eyes. 

 

* * *

 

 

"Good morning!" Sarah chirps to the sluggish Clementine as she eats a bowl of dry cereal. Milk's hard to come by nowadays. Clem hasn't had actual milk since the incident with the cannibals that they ran into. Even if they were... sucky, she misses the biscuits. Hopefully, they'll be able to come near recreating something that's as good as that.

She grabs some oatmeal and sits next to Sarah, mostly picking at her food. Don't worry, she won't waste it, she's just... thinking. No one's in the house right now except them. 

Silence. The only sound in the room as Sarah munches on her cereal, not minding Clementine's silence. Finally, Clementine breaks it, turning to Sarah and speaking in a hushed whisper, "Do you want to learn how to shoot a gun?"

That came out more blunt than it meant to be, but it gets the message across. She furrows her eyebrows as Sarah's face falls slack, confused on where this question came from. "But, my dad-" She starts and Clementine immediately hushes her, "He's not here right now. Sarah, I don't want to be mean but I'm not gonna sugarcoat everything like everyone else. This world sucks really bad and he's telling you it's just like normal. You need to... grow up. I'm..." She fumbles over her words once she realizes Sarah's face saddening like a beat puppy. "I'm not saying you can't look at everything in an optimistic way, but I'm not gonna let your dad indirectly drive you to your death."

It's silent again after that, Sarah taking in Clementine's words. That's okay, Clementine thinks. She'd need some time too after basically being told ' _either you grow up or die_ ' in a somewhat nicer manner. No one else was gonna tell her, and walking around her and not being able to say certain things was like walking on eggshells. Her dad's not as scary as Sarah makes him out to be, either. He's a huge pushover and he'll thank her later.

"Yes."

Clementine perks up again after eating some oatmeal. "So, you wanna do it?" She reiterates, making sure this isn't just some brash decision and Sarah nods quickly. There's excitement in her eyes and Clementine hopes she's not gonna take shooting a gun as a game. "Okay," Clementine says and that's the end of the conversation. They quickly eat their food and put the dishes in the sink before heading outside.

It's cold, Clementine thinks as the cold air hits her face. It's edging near winter time and she's glad she hadn't left just yet. It'd be awful to be stuck in such cold weather with walkers lurking about.

Shrugging her backpack off of her, she unzips it and takes out her trusty pistol. They had reluctantly given it back to her after she pressured them over it, saying that if she's gonna stay-  _if_ \- Then they need to trust her. Pete always seemed to take on more of a leadership role and have the final say in things, and when he's not there it's Luke making the hard choices. They're a good team.

"Okay," Clementine turns to Sarah, noticing her afraid look. "It's a bit heavy, and it won't hurt you unless you let it." She slowly makes her way over to Sarah, giving her a reassuring smile. Sarah nods, and that's a start. She gingerly places the gun in Sarah's hand and she tenses up, "It's okay," Clementine says, trying to ease her fears.

Sarah's taller than her, Clementine notes. It never bugged her until now, because she can't see anything behind her. She places her hands over Sarah's and aims it, "Okay. We can't shoot it because there's walker's nearby, but I can help you down with the aiming." Sarah nods again, breath hitching in her throat. "Don't lock your elbows," Clementine relaxes Sarah's arms, "Don't put your finger on the trigger unless you wanna hurt someone, but always know where your finger is." She's telling Sarah the same advice Lee had told her. She vividly remembers it, how could she not? He taught her not to be defenseless and if he hadn't, she would be on the same path as Sarah.

"To aim, look through the notch, okay?" She returns her hands over Sarah's. "Okay," Sarah finally says, getting used to the heavy object in her hands. "Is there... anything else?" Sarah squeaks out, aiming the gun at the wall of the house, her eyes focusing on one of the creases. Clementine clicks her tongue, thinking before she remembers it. "Always aim for the head."

And their session goes like that. They don't fire the gun at all, and it's Clementine instructing Sarah on everything she knows. The sun's setting soon and Clementine notices, sighing. "The others will be back soon." Sarah knows what that means and hands Clementine the gun, stashing it away in her backpack and they retreat back into the house quickly. A giggle comes from the older teen and Clementine looks up to her, confused. "That was... fun. I've never held a gun before."

Oh. Of course, Sarah thinks this is funny. Clementine can't understand whyshe would. It's not funny in the slightest, it's something she had to learn and she had to even shoot Lee. "Why are you laughing?"

Sarah stops laughing once she hears Clementine's irritated tone, looking away, "I thought it was kind of fun. I'm never allowed to do stuff like that."  
  
"It's not fun. Shooting isn't fun. It's awful, but it's a necessity now."

It's silent again. That's a reoccurring thing between the two because they don't really know how to talk to each other. Clementine sighs, fixing the hat on her head.

"What about your pigtails?" Sarah speaks quietly, a small smile on her face. "Oh. They're so people can't grab my hair easily." Sarah nods. She's got long hair and it could be easily grabbed just like Clementine's. "Can you do that to my hair?" She perks up again, and the heavy tension between the two is instantly gone. It's nice how Sarah can do that in just an instant.

"Okay," Clementine nods and Sarah grabs her hand, bounding up the stairs and into her room. She sits Clementine on the bed and grabs a pair of scissors and scrunchies she's got in her drawer. "My dad allows me to have scissors for 'art things,'" she explains, giving the stuff to Clementine and sitting in between her legs on the floor.

"That's cool, I used to do art," Clementine muses, trimming Sarah's hair. She's not great at it, but not awful either, having to trim her own hair sometimes. 

"Really? I didn't think you'd be the type to do that, no offense."

"It was when I was a kid. I often drew for an old friend of mine." Snip. 

"Oh. That's really cool!"

Clementine nods, parting Sarah's hair into two and tying it with the scrunchies. She stands up, twirling around for Clementine. "We're twins now! All I need is a hat like you. Where did you get your hat from?" She blabbers about, jumping back on the bed in front of Clementine. 

"It was my dad's," she admits, looking away. "Oh. Well, it looks nice on you!" That brings a smile out of Clementine. There's a sound of the door opening and many footsteps, Clementine realizes they're home now. "We have to pretend to be asleep now, I'm supposed to be asleep by now!" Sarah wiggles under the blanket and Clementine crawls in with her. 

Sarah's beaming, smiling down at Clementine as Clementine looks at her confused. "I learned a lot today, thanks, Clem." 

"You're welcome. Goodnight, Sarah."  
  
"Night, Clem."

 


	3. Courage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is essentially clementine doing everything i've wanted her to do. i always felt clementine lacked a major personality and that was due to being controlled by the player partially but also in scenes where you didn't control her, the only thing i could gather was that she was selfless and while survival was the main thing on her mind, she didn't hesitate to help others. i feel like clementine WOULD'VE taught sarah how to shoot a gun and try to secretly teach her how to survive and trying not to alert sarah's dad.
> 
> clementine has to have a strong sense of determination after everything she's gone through and not given up. even when she was alone and COULD'VE given up, she didn't. i believe she's driven by the fact that lee had wanted her to survive and she would give all she had to survive. 
> 
> since this isn't following the canon storyline, as i feel it paints clementine's life in a rather... odd light? it's the same formula over and over again: meet a group, group falls apart, most of the group dies, clementine is alone. it has a few variations but that's majorly it. i want this story to not be as predictable and i want clementine to actually develop beyond what she was given. i do feel as if she'd be a bit stubborn on things that SHE believes she could prevent, and she has not yet had that chat where carlos says "sarah will cease to function in this world" (which i feel like clem should've called him out on that being HIS fault.) so she's ready to challenge him.
> 
> anyways, that's all i've had to say. i'm sorry if you don't like how i've taken up clementine but it's just my own personal view of her. now, enjoy the chapter!

"You are not to be trusted!"

The bark of Carlos' rage filled the house, everyone else not knowing how to defuse the situation as Clementine stood there, challenging his gaze. Luke had tried stepping in multiple times to tell Carlos to calm down and, much to his surprise, was told to shut up. Carlos was normally a calm man towards those he trusted, slowly but surely warming up to Clementine. That trust had been shattered when he cut her hair and had her blabbering on about  _'It's to protect myself, papa!'_ He, however, didn't know about the fact that Clementine taught Sarah how to shoot a gun and she planned to keep it that way.

"She will die out there, Carlos," Clementine barked back, furrowing her eyebrows at him. "I understand you love your daughter and you want to protect her, but shielding her from the harsh reality won't do anything but harm her!" The young girl had seen too many of her friends die and she couldn't help it. This time she could help it, she could teach Sarah and make sure that she even had a chance of surviving. Clementine knew everyone was going to die at some point, but she didn't want Sarah to not even be able to fight back properly.

Her words sunk into Carlos' brain and he softened up at the mention of his precious daughter dying before his gaze hardened again, "You are wrong. I will always be there to keep her from that." 

"And what if you weren't? You're not going to live forever, don't pretend like you are."

"I will always be there for her-!"

" **Face it,** " Clementine huffed out, realizing that she was somewhat getting to him. "You're not going to be there, as this world is unpredictable and you can't keep her from everything. Whoever you're running from will find you, it always happens." She shrugged, turning on her heel. "I'm not going to let you lead her to her death, I'll tell you that." She waltzed out of the door, ignoring the chaos erupting behind her as she did so.

 

* * *

 

 

Clementine sat down at the creek, glaring at the fish swimming freely in the water. She had gotten too heated, she'll admit, but there was something about Sarah that she wanted to protect. Clementine had only one friend in her life that was around her age, and that was Duck. Losing him in such a tragic and fast way was traumatizing to the poor girl, as she was playing with him and having fun and the next moment he was drawing his last, shallow, breath.

That was because they failed to protect him, and also that he didn't know how to protect himself. At the ranch, Clementine lacked the skills to protect herself either and she was easily grabbed despite her struggles.

"Don't worry, Lee," she chuckled, "I'm keeping my hair short." 

The laugh soon faded out and the splashing of the water was the only noise around her. She wished there was some sort of guide or map on what to do, as she had absolutely no clue on what to do. She hoped nobody could tell how much she was struggling as she made everything as she continued on. It was very hard but she couldn't let herself crack under all the pressure. Lee had given up her life for her and she wouldn't let him down.

She sighed, running her fingers over the blood stain on her hat. "Lee, I really wish you were here. I'm so lost without you."

The guilt of indirectly causing Lee's death was still lingering on her heart, and even though it had been a few years since it, it didn't get better. As everything got harder, she blamed herself more for taking her caretaker out of this world before he could teach her everything. She refused to talk about it to anyone, remaining stone-faced and unphased to everything around her. It had become her defense tactic, as if you don't leave your heart on your sleeve, you won't get hurt. Sarah didn't care about that, and gladly let her thoughts and emotions be free.

_Sarah..._

Sarah! She had left her there alone in her fit of anger and her father was probably scolding her by now. Clementine knew that Sarah was afraid of her father, claiming he could be harsh even though Clementine had never seen him do anything worse than scold her and then gently tell her it's alright if she doesn't do it again.

Getting up, she fixed her hat but hesitated to get up and go back to the house. This was the first time in weeks that she had gotten to really be alone and out of the house. Even if there are dangers lurking about, Clementine knows how to defend herself. So, she set off in the direction away from the house.

 

* * *

 

 

Sarah sat on her bed, sniffling quietly as her father had finally left the room. He certainly didn't leave his thoughts about Clementine up for speculation, bluntly telling Sarah that he didn't trust the girl and didn't think she was a good influence on her. He, of course, comforted her afterward but she had told him that she wanted to be left alone and he sadly obliged.

It was the first time Sarah had felt conflicted about her father's judgment. The girl had always followed behind whatever her father believed, as he knew everything. But this time she had seen with her own eyes that Clementine was not as dangerous as everyone thought she was. Clementine around her had lowered her guard a little bit. The Clementine she knew was a bit shy and oblivious to certain normal things. Sarah would sometimes talk about her school and Clementine was interested and surprised, as she never had the chance to complete school.

Sarah found it cute how despite how hardened Clementine had become, her inner child still showed through as she would get excited over certain things before clearing her throat and sputtering out an apology with a red face. It made her realize that they're both still children at heart and they're still growing up.

Clementine's just a kid, after all.

They were being too harsh on her and Sarah frowned. Why were they being so mean? They all said harsh words at each other and claimed that Clementine was dangerous. Well, that's what Carlos had told her, but still! Even when Sarah was mad, she had never wanted to hurt anyone, physically or verbally. 

...It had been quite some time since Clementine had left, hadn't it? Sarah had begun getting worried, wiping at her puffy eyes harshly with her sleeve. Clementine had told her that everything will be alright and that she'd be fine. She told her to not worry and here she was, worrying over Clementine. The younger girl had proven herself to be able to defend herself in dangerous countless times, but Sarah thought back again... Clementine was just a kid. She's still vulnerable and she's not as strong as everyone else.

"Luke?" Sarah called out, edging over to her door. Luke was the only person who had a level head right now, she had heard him over all the shouting advocating for her, saying that Clementine was just following what she thought best. He said Carlos had to stop being such a helicopter parent over Sarah and stop coddling her.

"Yeah?" He called back, his footsteps coming closer to her door and she slowly opened it, letting him inside. 

"What's up?" His eyes looked at Sarah's nervous form as she nervously tapped her fingers together. It was a habit she'd do when she was afraid of doing something. He placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her a reassuring smile. "You can tell me anything? Alright? You don't gotta worry about me going to tell your p-"

**BANG!**

A distant gunshot was heard, the two freezing as shock filled both of their systems. Sarah's eyes went wide before she rushed out of the room, adrenaline fueling her system with Luke following close behind her.

 

* * *

 

 

**BANG!**

Clementine's gun fired off into the air haphazardly as she struggled to fight off the taller man grabbing her. He had introduced himself as Carver, claiming he was looking for people he'd lost. Clementine wasn't dumb and immediately registered that he was looking for her group. She told him she didn't know and had tried to walk away, but he didn't leave her alone, supposedly finding her suspicious and continuing to 'interrogate' her.

After Clementine had repeatedly told him off, he had gotten tired and just decided he was going to take her back for further questioning with some... unorthodox methods.

"Let go!" Clementine shouted. Wiggling had proven futile so she opened her mouth wide and sunk her teeth into Carver's thumb, causing him to let go. "You little..." He grumbled to himself before lunging at Clementine again. A scuffle for power had ensued, Carver obviously having more power over Clementine's short form. She wasn't going to go down without a fight and tried her best to not allow him to grab the pistol out of her hand.

The bushes rustled quietly and Clementine took a quick glance over to them.

That was a bad idea.

In her brief moment of looking away, Carver quickly overpowered her and grabbed the gun from her, using her own weapon against her as he aimed it at her.

"That was longer than expected to be, I'll give you that," he said, impressed by how long Clementine had stood her ground despite being obviously destined to fail. She just glared at him, not answering him since silence was a valid option.

The bush rustled again despite no walker being around. They'll be here soon, Clementine thought. A small sound that sounded like a girl had been made, which immediately piqued Carver's interest. He slowly made his way over to the bush and Clementine found this as her moment to strike back, immediately leaping for Carver to get the upper hand again, pulling her trusty knife out her boot.

Many things happened at that moment.

Sarah jumped up, as did the others, a scream being ripped out of her throat as she tripped over herself trying to run to Clementine as the others held her back.

Clementine had managed to get a stab into Carver's shoulder.

But there had also been a gunshot, and it hadn't come from any of the group. 

It had come from the gun Carver had in his hand.

He had managed to fire a bullet into Clementine's thigh, sending her falling off of him and leaving the knife embedded in Carver's shoulder. So much blood already, she thought, immediately pressing her hands on her gunshot wound. It was useless though, as she had blacked out in those few seconds, the last sound she heard was a scream of her name. 

"Clementine!"

 


End file.
